Grandmas Try To Sway Sentiment

Miami Relatives `Have No Right To That Boy'

Sometimes sad, sometimes defiant, Elian Gonzalez's grandmothers braved New York's freezing temperatures and a throng of reporters Friday in a bid to stir U.S. public opinion to the cause of returning the boy to Cuba.

A tearful Raquel Rodriguez undercut claims by Cuban exiles and politicians that Elian must stay in the United States because his mother dreamed of freedom for herself and her son.

Rodriguez said her daughter, Elizabet Brotons, was pressured to make the journey by her abusive common-law husband, who perished with her on the trip across the Florida Strait.

``If she took that step, it is because she had a husband who was violent and threatened her,'' Rodriguez said.

The boy should be returned to Cuba, Rodriguez said, ``so that my daughter can rest in peace, which is what I most desire, that they not violate her memory anymore.''

With the grandmothers' arrival and first public appearance in the United States, tensions between Elian's relatives in Miami and on the island erupted into public view.

Elian's paternal grandmother reacted strongly when asked whether she would travel to Miami to visit with Elian's family there.

``I have no reason to go to that house, because they have no right to that boy,'' said Mariela Quintana, whose son, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, is Elian's father. He and Elian's mother were divorced.

In Miami, the relatives who have cared for Elian since he was found clinging to an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day angrily denied the grandmothers' allegations that they had kidnapped Elian and had cut off phone contact with his relatives on the island.

``The grandmothers are afraid of coming [to Miami) and hearing the truth. They are afraid that he's going to tell them he wants to stay here,'' said Marisleysis Gonzalez, 21, a cousin who has helped care for the boy. ``If it hadn't been for us, where would Elian be now? They know that I'd never kidnap this child. They've known me since I was a little girl.''

The two grandmothers arrived in New York on Friday afternoon aboard a private jet chartered by the National Council of Churches, which supports returning the boy to Cuba.

The Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary for the council, said the grandmothers would meet with government officials or anyone else who could help them return Elian to Cuba.

They are to go today to Washington to meet with Attorney General Janet Reno, who has said Elian belongs with his father. U.S. officials said the grandmothers requested the meeting and that the Clinton administration wants to hear what they have to say.

But Edgar said the women have no plans to travel to Miami.

``They will be here only for a few days, and they hope to return with their grandson,'' Edgar said.

Asked about that possibility, he said: ``We believe in miracles.''

The grandmothers arrived amid a flurry of legal and political efforts to block the boy's return to Cuba. As early as Monday, some members of Congress are expected to introduce a bill that would make Elian a U.S. citizen.

The boy's relatives in Miami have filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County family court demanding custody of the boy and a lawsuit in federal court requesting political asylum for him.

Friday's news conference began the latest chapter in what has become a public-relations war over the boy's fate.

The grandmothers, at first overwhelmed by the more than 30 TV cameras and dozens of journalists, seemed to gain strength as the news conference went on.

They said they came to demonstrate that they were speaking of their own free will, and they denounced Cuban exiles who do not want the boy returned as ``the Miami mafia,'' a term often used by Fidel Castro.

They said Elian tells them and his father in Cuba that he wants to return to the island.

Quintana ridiculed congressional efforts to make Elian an American citizen. ``They cannot make Elian an American citizen,'' she said. ``He was born in Cuba. He is Cuban.''

Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for Elian's Miami relatives, scoffed at the notion that the grandmothers feared coming to Miami. ``Nobody gets killed here. I'd be more worried if the father comes here with a rifle,'' he said, referring to an angry threat by Juan Miguel Gonzalez in a recent television interview.

Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez said the boy knows that his grandmothers are here and he is happy. But he said the child paid little attention when the women were on television. ``The boy saw them for a few seconds, and he kept on playing.''

When asked what they would say to Elian if they got to visit with him while in the United States, Rodriguez responded: ``There are so many things we want to tell him. I don't know if we would talk to him. We may just cry.''